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G.Skill Phoenix 100GB SSD review

Ever since a year or two every now and then this relatively small company G.Skill rears it's head and bam .. show a really impressive product, always at a sharp price compared to the competition. We love their DDR memory products, we liked their SSD range and recently G.Skill added yet another SSD into the product line. it is called the Phoenix SSD and it is armed with that much discussed SandForce1200 based controller.

Samsung Blu-Ray writer with 12X Read Performance

Samsung announced today its new Blu-ray disc (BD) Combo, the SH-B123 optical disk drive (ODD), which reads BD-ROMs at the world's fastest speed of up to 12X, CDs at up to 48X, and DVDs at a maximum speed of 16X. With Samsung's new internal Blu-ray drive, users can watch HD movies on their PCs as well as record HD camcorder movies and HDTV broadcasting on DVDs with Samsung's Cyberlink Powerproducer software provided in the BD combo package.

With Samsung's Cyberlink Trutheater technology, consumers can upscale DVD resolution movies to full HD resolution. PCs can be verified if they are Blu-ray enabled by activating the Cyberlink BD advisor, also available in the package and via the Cyberlink homepage.

The new BD combo guarantees high reliability in BD play performance by utilizing two lenses and a two laser diode structure, which provide stable BD read, and DVD and CD read/ write performance. SACT (Spherical Abberation Compensation Technology) improves the quality of the read function on BD drives if the protective layer does not have a uniform thickness. In addition, PSCT (Precision Step Control Technology) optimizes position control for the optical pick-up feature that requires small track pitch of BD drives. Samsung's Firmware Live Update ensures users that they always have the latest BD drive firmware version.

Samsung's BD drive, designed with an edgier look that sets it apart from conventional ODDs, features a chic mirror front door, blue LED and high-tech front bezel of the internal BD. The light and tiny casing not only reduces internal heat, but also contributes to low CO2 emissions by improving loading efficiency.

Microsoft Office 2010 Now Available Worldwide

Microsoft Corp. announced the worldwide availability of Microsoft Office 2010, Microsoft Visio 2010 and Microsoft Project 2010. Consumers can now purchase Office 2010 at more than 35,000 retail stores across the globe, such as Best Buy, Fnac, Harvey Norman and PC World; through online retailers, including Amazon.com; and direct from Microsoft at Office.com.

GeForce Forceware 257.21 WHQL drivers ready for download

NVIDIA has released a new series 257 drivers, this is revision 257.21 WHQL which carries support for a large amount of GeForce graphics cards.

The 257.15 beta driver includes the PhysX system software, the HD audio 1.0.9.1 driver, and has support for GeForce 6, 7, 8, 9, 100, 200, 300 and 400 (GTX 465 too) series desktop cards, and the ION GPUs.

New in Version 257.21

Upgrades PhysX System Software to version 9.10.0223.

Adds support for OpenGL 4.0 for GeForce GTX 400 Series GPUs.

Adds support for CUDA Toolkit 3.1 which includes significant performance increases for double precision math operations. See CUDA Zone for more details.

Adds a new NVIDIA Control Panel setup page for SLI and PhysX for ultimate control over multi-gpu configurations.

Adds a new NVIDIA Control Panel feature for ultimate control over CUDA GPUs, allowing the user to effectively choose which GPU will power each CUDA application.

Includes numerous bug fixes. Refer to the release notes on the documentation tab for information about the key bug fixes in this release.

Users without US English operating systems can select their language and download the International driver here.

Supports the new version of MotionDSP's video enhancement software, vReveal, which adds support for HD output. NVIDIA customers can download a free version of vReveal that supports up to SD output here.

Supports OpenCL 1.0 (Open Computing Language) for all GeForce 8-series and later GPUs.

Supports OpenGL 3.3 for GeForce 8-series and later GPUs.

Supports single GPU and NVIDIA SLI technology * on DirectX 9 and OpenGL.

AMD six-core sells like hot buns from the oven

Good for AMD, the processor series is selling so well that AMD doesn't have enough of them. Advanced Micro Devices chose not to place too many orders for Phenom II X6 parts, likely to avoid oversupply. At least, this is what a recent report made by Digitimes claims.

Ironically, this caution proved less than fortuitous when retail channels were faced with a demand that was quite a bit higher than originally anticipated. The same can be said for the new motherboards powered by the 800 chipset series.

Demand was significant during the second quarter. On the one hand, this led to strong sales of both chips and platforms. On the other hand, the shortage of six-core processors also means that shipments of such parts, and motherboards, did not reach the amounts they otherwise could have. Not only that, but even the supply schedule of quad-core Phenom II 960T chips was affected.

Moving forward, in order to resolve this issue and, hopefully, avoid it in the future, AMD has adjusted its planned Southbridge chips. The maker intended to pair the 890FX, 880G and 870 Northbridge chips with SB850/SB810 Southbridges. Plans have changed, however, in the way that the SB850 will have to handle the entire market on its own for a while, as the SB810 has been delayed. There is no word on when, exactly, the latter will debut.

Xbox 360 Slim officially announced

Microsoft officially presented its new Xbox 360 console at E3. The console is referred to as "The New Xbox 360", it features a slimmer design, has built-in WiFi 802.11n and offers a 250GB HDD. If you live in the US you'll be able to buy the new Xbox 360 console later this week for $299.99, while Europeans will have to wait until July 16.

Additionally, the price of the old Xbox 360 Elite will drop $50 to $249, while the Arcade receives a similar price cut to $149.

Microsoft also surprised the world with a new Xbox 360 console designed for the future. Back in black, the new Xbox 360 is sleek, silent and sexy. Connect in seconds to the always- expanding world of Xbox LIVE through built-in Wi-Fi N and store twice as many games and entertainment on a 250GB hard drive.

The newly designed console is whisper-quiet, so the silent tension of a game or movie is never broken. The new Xbox 360 system also comes with everything you need to get started, including an Xbox 360 wireless controller, Xbox 360 headset, HDMI input, USB flash drive storage capabilities and more, and a one-year limited warranty on the console, available this week and priced at $299.99 ERP.

Sandra 2010 SP2 v16.52 released

SANDRA will provide most of the information (including undocumented) you need to know about your hardware, software and other devices whether hardware or software.

It works along the lines of other Windows utilities, however it tries to go beyond them and show you more of what's really going on. Giving the user the ability to draw comparisons at both a high and low-level. You can get information about the CPU, chipset, video adapter, ports, printers, sound card, memory, network, Windows internals, AGP, ODBC Connections, USB2, 1394/Firewire, etc.

SiSoftware Sandra 2010, the latest version of the award-winning utility, includes remote analysis, benchmarking and diagnostic features for PCs, servers, mobile devices and networks.

At SiSoftware from version to version we focus four key areas of software development to make sure we give our users the best software experience. Quite simply our four drivers are:

Inclusion of new technologies that ensure our tools remain current.

Increased hardware and software support for existing modules.

Improving the user interface to make it a richer easier user experience.

Filling gaps in the product line in response to our customers' needs.

This release contains a few changes you should find useful:

Reference Results: changed UI from multiple combo-boxes to single list-view, making it easier to select, view and modify reference results. You can still only select 4 devices for now, with the earliest unselected if you check more than 4.

Chieftec outs 80 Plus PSUs as well

The power supply is one of the product types that most emphasize electrical efficiency. There are multiple certifications that such a PSU must earn before truly being considered green. The most relevant is the 80Plus, which deals directly with the energy efficiency of the unit. That being said, even getting the lowest certification, 80Plus Bronze, is an achievement. Chieftec knows this, which is why it has brought forth the Nitro series.

The Nitro series is made up of ten models. First off, there are six modular solutions, with output of 550W, 650W, 750W, 850W, 950W and 1,200W, respectively. Secondly, there are four non-modular models, of 350W, 400W, 450W and 500W. They all meet the ATX 2.3 standard, have a pair of 12V rails, nylon sleeves on cables and 140mm (modular) and 120mm (non-modular) fans. All spinners feature automatic speed adjustment, aided by a thermostat. As for the energy efficiency itself, all products surpass 85% and boast 80Plus bronze rating except for the 1,200W, which has 80Plus Silver rating (90.1% efficiency).

The modular units are noteworthy not just for their cable management benefits, but also for the fact that each boasts up to six 8-pin PCI Express 2.0 power connectors, as well as ten SATA connectors. Basically, these newcomers should handle most multi-GPU setups and high-end CPUs. Finally, European stores should be able to receive Chieftec's fresh creations starting with the week of January 26, 2011.

MSI shipping GX740 laptop

MSI announced the GX740 17" gaming laptop with Intel Core i7-720QM processor, ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5870, 4GB DDR3, 500GB HDD, and 1680 x 1050 pixel resolution is now available in the US for $1,399.99. MSI Computer Corp., a leading manufacturer of computer hardware products and solutions, today announced the availability of its new 17-inch GX740 gaming notebook. Armed with the Intel

OCZ Deneva enterprise SSD launched

OCZ announced Deneva, a new line of SandForce 1500 based solid state disks for enterprises. The full specifications of each model can be found at OCZ Enterprise. OCZ Technology Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:OCZ), a leading provider of high-performance solid-state drives (SSDs) and memory modules for computing devices and systems, unveils the Deneva Series Solid State Drives, a new enterprise line that is based on cutting-edge architecture that utilizes Sandforce's 1500 SSD processor with MLC and eMLC to address the performance and reliability demands of enterprise storage environments.

"Our new Deneva Series of drives are designed to improve performance and are the first to deliver Tier-0/1 Enterprise level reliability, using a range of lower cost flash technologies including eMLC and MLC in processes as low as 3xnm," said Ryan Petersen, CEO of the OCZ Technology Group. "Deneva SSDs deliver exceptional price to performance and reliability ratios while giving customers the freedom to design in a variety of interfaces including SATA , SAS, FC and PCIe and an assortment of form factors, giving clients the ultimate flexibility and control to address their distinct enterprise requirements."

The Sandforce-based Deneva family features several enterprise-specific options not available on OCZ's consumer product lines, including emergency power loss protection with a supercap, best-in-class endurance, and superior encryption and ECC protection. Promoting enhanced productivity for a broad range of applications, the Deneva Series provides greater performance and cost savings versus traditional hard disk drive (HDD) infrastructures. Additionally, the Deneva Series maximizes throughput with up to 285MB/s reads, 275MB/s writes, and 4KB random writes up to 50,000 IOPS.

Aside from the industry-leading performance, the Deneva Series also offers:

Call Of Duty: Black Ops E3 2010 Remix Trailer

More trailers with E3 arround. Activision's decided that Eminem is a good fit for a Vietnam and Cold War action title, so here's the Call Of Duty: Black Ops E3 2010 Remix Trailer Featuring Eminem's Won't Back Down!

BF: Bad Company 2 Vietnam - E3 Trailer

Check out the announcement trailer for the first Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Expansion Pack. In Battlefield Bad Company 2 Vietnam you get to enter the jungle warfare environment as either the U.S. Marines or North Vietnamese Army (NVA). The expansion pack contains 4 brand new maps built in Frostbite including the popular Conquest and Rush game modes as well as Vietnam specific weapons, vehicles, persistence, unlocks as well as new awards, achievements and trophies. Battlefield Bad Company 2 Vietnam will be available worldwide in Winter 2010 on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC.

Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit - E3 Reveal Trailer

During their E3 press conference, Electronic Arts has announced Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit (2010) which is being developed by Criterion Games, the games known from the Burnout games. Need for Speed Hot Pursuit will be released for PC, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Wii on November 16 in North America, hitting Europe on November 18 and 19.

TeraDrive CT Series SSDs from Super talent

Memory vendor Super Talent announced availability of the new TeraDrive CT SSD, which uses the SandForce 1222 SSD processor to deliver astounding performance in laptops and desktops.

The new TeraDrive CT has a standard SATA-II 3Gbps interface. It delivers sequential read and write speeds up to 285 and 275 MB/sec respectively. Built-in Garbage Collection and TRIM support ensure sustainable performance over the life of the drive, without degradation.

The TeraDrive CT features RAISE technology for enhanced reliability and DuraWrite technology for significantly increased endurance, state-of-the-art wear leveling, bad block management, and excellent ECC with up to 24 symbols correctable per 512 byte sector. The TeraDrive CT, built with MLC NAND flash, uses new improved firmware that yields greater usable capacity than earlier 1222 based SSDs. It is offered in capacities from 60GB to 480GB.

Joe James, Director of Marketing at Super Talent stated, "The TeraDrive CT is now our fastest desktop/laptop upgrade SSD. It has an amazing feature set combined with exceptional sequential and random transfer speeds and best-in-class reliability." TeraDrive CT SSDs are available now through Super Talent resellers worldwide.

A-DATA C003 flash drive

A-DATA has released the C003, an ultra-slim USB flash drive with a funky sliding design. The flash drive has a thickness of only 7.5mm and is available in strawberry red or sparkling lavender blue color options. A-DATA ships the C003 in capabilities of 2/4/8/16/32GB but unfortunately there's no USB 3.0 support, a bit of a shame.

With the ultra-compact size and light weight, users can easily enjoy transfer experience anytime, anywhere at their precious moment. Apart from its ultra-slim size, C003 generates all practical functions from classic USB flash drives as its three hallmarks: Compact size, easy operation and price- wise. Meanwhile, the C003 is conveniently designed with a strap hole so that users could make it as a decoration or accessory hooking on to a keychain or a mobile phone. Featuring cute strawberry red and sparkling lavender blue in C003 conveys an animate impression and lasting brand value to customers through these two highly saturated colors. Hot plug-and-play ready and available in 2GB~32 GB, the C003 serves more than just a storage device but also a unique taste for fashion. C003 is born to blend a functional device into a trendy accessory with its simplicity.